This is not so much a recipe as it is a tutorial on grilling vegetables on a gas grill. First, it’s not hard and it makes vegetables taste wonderful.
It brings out the natural sugars and caramelizes them and also adds a smoky flavor you cannot get any other way.

Which vegetables and how do you prepare them?

Just about any vegetable can be grilled with the right equipment. Some like green, yellow, orange or red peppers can be done right on the grill. Others like asparagus will need a vegetable grate (great for shrimp, too) like this one or a grilling wok (great for shrimp or scallops, too) like this. Tongs and a large spatula are a help, too.

Below, I will list various vegetables, the perpetration and the best method of grilling:

Asparagus

There may be nothing finer than fresh, locally grown asparagus grilled. Snap off any tough ends of the asparagus. Toss with vegetable or olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on a hot grill for a total of six to eight minutes, turning frequently. Keep a close eye on the asparagus because when it can go from done to OVER DONE very quickly. Do not overcook.

Eggplant

Slice eggplant into 1/4- to 3/8-inch slabs like the squash above or rings. Coat with vegetable oil or olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on a hot grill for 15 to 25 minutes to cook through.

Corn

Use the freshest local corn you can find. Remove all the husks except the last layer. The corn should be completely covered with husk and there may need to be two layers in some areas. Peal back these husks and brush the corn with melted butter. Place on a hot grill and cook 8 to 10 minutes total rotating the corn frequently.

Green Onions

Coat onions with vegetable oil or olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on a hot grill (you can use a vegetable grate if you have one) and cook for a total of 8 to 10 minutes, turning once or twice. Do not overcook.

Sweet Onions, Sliced (Vidalia, Maui, etc.)

Slice onions about a 1/4- to 1/2=inch thick. Rub with vegetable or olive oil and sprinkle with salt a pepper. Place on a medium grill and cook for three to five minutes per side (depends on thickness of the slices) until you get grill marks and the onions are just cooked. Don’t overcook. They should be just beyond crisp.

Whole Peppers

Rub the outside with vegetable or olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place whole peppers on a hot grill and cook on that side until the skin is charred, about two to three minutes. Rotate the pepper 90 degrees and cook that side the same way. Cook the pepper until the entire skin is blackened. Place the pepper in a paper bag and allow the pepper to cool. The pepper will steam inside the bag and make removing the skin very easy. Peal the skin off the pepper and use your favorite recipe. Delicious. Note: This works with hot chili peppers like jalapenos, too.

Pepper Slices

If you have a vegetable grill or grilling wok like this one, slice the ends off the peppers and remove the seeds. Or, place the pepper end flat on a cutting board and cut from the top to the bottom just outside the core of the pepper. This will give you four slabs and the seeds still attached to the core. Either way, slice the pepper into strips about 1/4-inch wide. Toss the strips with vegetable or olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Preheat the grilling wok on high and place the pepper in the wok. Grill the pepper with the lid down for about two minutes. Open the lid and toss the pepper slices with a wooden spoon. Cook a total of about four to five minutes. Do not overcook.
If you do not have a grill wok, just place the oiled and seasoned slabs on the grill and cook until just done. Remove from the grill and cut the peppers into slices.

Summer Squash and Zucchini

Place either on a cutting board and cut into 1/4-inch slabs longwise. Coat each side with vegetable or olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place slabs on a hot grill and cook for about three to four minutes per side.
Alternatively, you can cut the zucchini or summer squash into cubes, coat with oil, add salt and pepper and cook in a grill wok.

Tomatoes

Thickly slice tomatoes. Coat with vegetable oil or olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on a hot grill two to four minutes per side.

Button Mushrooms

Leave small mushrooms whole; larger mushrooms should be cut in half or quartered. Toss mushrooms with vegetable or olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on a vegetable grate over high heat for about five to ten minutes.

Portobello Mushrooms

Okay, not a vegetable, but the technique is the same. Coat with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place on a medium hot grill. Cook for four to six minutes per side.

THE FUN PART

Grilled vegetables are great by themselves, but mix and match them and you have a party. Grill peppers and onions with grilled sausage is great. Try grilled eggplant and onions with you next Italian meal. Make vegetable kabobs on bamboo skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes. Yum. The possibilities are endless.

My wife and I are out on the West coast visiting our youngest son (our middle son came up to visit from San Francisco) and we decided to have some shrimp and pasta for dinner. Off we went to the store to get the ingredients.
This recipe is one my middle son, Brad, developed in San Francisco. It is fast, easy, and tasty all at the same time. And, you do not have to slave over a hot stove.
Basically it uses frozen shrimp (pretty much the only way to buy shrimp unless you live next to a shrimp boat, but that’s another story), a jar of Alfredo sauce, and some pasta. There are some alteration to the ingredients and there are lots of variations you can make to this recipe. Check out some of the addition and variations at the end of the recipe.
This is another of those “open a jar” recipes, but speed and taste win over slaving over a stove.
This recipe is easily doubled or upped b y one and a half to fit the number of people you are feeding. And, it’s a good recipe to have in your back pocket when friends or family show up unexpectedly.

I have a lot of friends that just love pumpkin. Pumpkin in anything is a good thing. I like pumpkin, too; just not as much as these folks.
I have been baking many different kinds of muffins lately and I thought why not try a pumpkin muffin.
And the search was on.
I did not find many pumpkin muffin recipes. Some of them sounded awful. I tried one from Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking that was just okay. Then I ran across a recipe on the Internet from King Arthur Flour. One thing I liked about it was that it used a whole 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree. What do you do with a quarter can of pumpkin anyway?
In looking at the recipe it look familiar. It seemed close to the moist and tasty bran muffins I posted earlier (here). So I made some changed to the recipe using some tricks from that recipe.
It worked.
These are outstanding muffins. The pumpkin flavor comes through (a problem in many pumpkin recipes) and they are moist and tender – just a great combination. And as an added bonus, they are low calorie, low fat and high in fiber.
And they taste so good that a friend of mine renamed them “Better Than Sex Muffins!”
It fits.

These cookies are amazing. You bite into one thinking cookie. And it is a cookie. It’s sweet. But then the salt hits you and your brain says whoa!
Sweet and salty.
Then the lime and orange kick in. And your brain says whoa again…sweet, salty and citrus.
Then the slight hint of tequila hits you.
And your brain, totally confused, says, “Margarita cookie. I like.”
And you have another. And another.
These things are addictive.
I know you don’t believe me. No one believes me when I offer them a margarita cookie. Then they taste one and always want another.
Like I said, this is an amazing cookie.

My late sister, Sue, was a vegetarian among other things. She was a great kid and I loved her dearly. One day, I called her up and said, “Let’s have dinner and I’ll cook, vegetarian of course.”
This is one of the dishes I prepared and it was so good I have made it several times for my family and friends. Grilled vegetables are what make it. The slightly smoky flavor comes through and the lemon balsamic vinaigrette adds a nice counterpoint to the whole dish.
If you have never tried couscous, I suggest you do. This recipe uses Israeli couscous (also known as pearl couscous) which is slightly larger than normal couscous. I like them both, but the larger Israeli couscous is very tasty.

This is a recipe my wife has been making for years and years. We have no idea where she got it from. The only thing I know is that it’s delicious.
It is an easy cake to make. It looks really pretty once you sprinkle it with confectioner sugar. And it serves a lot of people.
Sounds like a near perfect dessert, assuming you like pumpkin (which I do!).
Enjoy.

Makes about 1-1/2 quarts and serves lots of people; this recipe is easily doubled

As my family will testify to, I am not a big fan of taking the easy road when it comes to cooking. If the recipe calls for lemon grass, go get some. If you are going to the trouble of making a home made pie, why not make your own pie dough? I believe there is something rewarding in mastering a recipe or getting a technique down just right. And, I believe that the end result tastes better. too.
Buy the best ingredients you can afford and use the best recipe you can find. Together these two things will deliver better results every time over anything store bought.
But, as with all rules, rules are made to be broken.
The follow recipe is one my wife found on the Internet and she gave it a try. It’s an “open-the-cans-and-dump-them-in” kind of recipe. It’s quick and easy. And, it tastes amazing.
Every time we have made this recipe (usually we double it), family and guests leave nothing in the pot.
So even though this is an open and dump recipe, I highly recommend you give it a try.